ECN North Asia Webinar

Keiko Shimada is the CEO of Mercer Japan. Previously, she was MCG Leader and Global M&A Consulting Leader, and had provided pre-and-post deal HR/Management and organization related support for both domestic and cross-border M&A deals of various industries and countries.

Ms. Shimada was a start-up member of the M&A business at Mercer Japan back in 2002 and has been playing the key role since then. She has three years of talent consulting experience before then.

Ms. Shimada holds BA from School of International Political Science, Economics and Business, Aoyama Gakuin University and MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Takuji Okubo is the North Asia Director of The Economist Corporate Network, managing the Networks in Japan and in South Korea.

Prior to joining The Economist Group, Takuji was the Managing Director and Chief Economist at Japan Macro Advisors, serving global fortune 500 companies and financial institutions in Japan and abroad. In his past career, Takuji was a Chief Economist at Societe Generale, in charge of Japan and of South Korea, and a senior economist at Merrill Lynch and at Goldman Sachs. Outside his role at ECN, Takuji also serves as a non-executive director at Japan Risk Forum, an association of Chief Risk Officers among Japanese financial institutions.

Takuji holds B.A in Economics from Tokyo University and while at the university he was a recipient of prestigious INOUE scholarship. He holds MBA from INSEAD and Msc. In Economics from UPF in Barcelona. Apart from work, he enjoys motor-cycling, scuba-diving, cooking as well as worrying about the future of the Japanese economy.